Friday, February 4, 2011

Miss Ryan, Student Teacher

Hi Everyone!

My name is Marin Ryan and I am a student teacher from Kent State University. I will teach at Suffield Elementary until March 4th, then move to my second assignment at Field Middle from March 21st to May 6th, and finally graduate in May with a Bachelor's degree in Art Education, with minors in Studio Art and Education. In my own artwork, I enjoy figure drawing and ceramics most, and I hope to continue taking art classes throughout my teaching career. Although I'm from Harmony, Pennsylvania, a small town north of Pittsburgh, I recently studied abroad in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and hope to continue to travel in the future. So far my teaching experience has only been with high school students and preschoolers, so I am very excited to be working with the elementary students here! They are a great group of kids and I hope I can teach them as much as they're teaching me.

Here are the lessons I've started (or will soon begin!) with some of the grade levels:

1st Grade: Silent Buddies

The children will be making simple stuffed animals to donate to patients at Akron Children's Hospital after talking about how nice it is to have a “silent buddy” to comfort them when they are alone. Although I will do the sewing for the project, the students will get to draw their own animal design, stuff it, and decorate it with marker designs.

2nd Grade: Imperfection Self Portraits

Second graders learned what imperfections are, and how we all have them (even models!). They are making realistic self portraits including one imperfection, and adding color to them using tissue paper.

4th Grade: Press Pause: Zig-Zag Paintings

In this lesson, students talked about busy activities they did and relaxing activities that help them to “press pause.” They will be making “zig-zag” paintings that show them doing a busy activity from one angle and a relaxing activity from another angle. To brainstorm what makes an artwork look busy or calm, they found similarities and differences in two artworks- you can check these out in the hallway!

This is an example of a "PostSecret"

5th Grade: Secret Box

The students will look at some of Frank Warren's PostSecret postcards to learn that sometimes people have a secret goal or a secret fear that they aren't ready to share yet. They will make a box to hold a secret of their own, and decorate it using stamping and collage.

I am also finishing up two of Mrs. Tannert's lessons right now: Kindergarteners are working on “Ugly Bugs” and Third Graders are finishing up a project on color theory. I am excited to start my own lessons with these students soon!